this is a really tough call...sometimes we tend to lean towards players who are active & fresher in our minds because we see them everyday and the media/tv coverage is so available now...that said, i cant imagine a player being any more clutch than Kobe

why do you say of course he would say kobe? Phil said both were great in clutch situations but kobe is better at hitting tough shots that have no business going in. And having watched both Jordan and Kobe, I would agree. Why do you think phil would lie about that?

i hesitate to anoint Kobe or MJ to this degree because i wonder what we'd say if A) we were old enough to watch someone like Jerry West etc. play & B) all his games were televised with highlights on ESPN every night?

Kobe may hit a lot of clutch shots but he misses far more than he makes. Because of this he can't be the clutchest ever. 82games.com has clutch shooting stats that you can check out if you don't believe me that Kobe misses a bunch.Great shot though today in the game the still photo has Pierce in the background with his hands up in disgust even b4 the ball is outta Kobe's hand. For the record Carmelo leads the league in clutch FG% over the past few years.

Kobe seems like he either ends up having days like this where he hits the winner, or shoots 1 for 8 in the fourth quarter and loses it for his team...if he would stop being so stubborn and pass the ball when hes cold the lakers would be virtually unbeatable.

bd1117- first off, i watch games and don't put too much stock in these numbers that try to evaluate who is clutch or not. John Hollinger has what he considers a very accurate way of calculating who is clutch, and according to his numbers Kobe ranked as the 86th most clutch player last season. That equals fail in my book. 30 of 30 GM's have voted for kobe as the most clutch player in the league for a few years now, i think they might know what they are talking about. And as for bringing 82games.com into this, they have kobe ranked as the number 1 most clutch player this year, so i'm not sure why you would bring them up as proof of how unclutch kobe is.

Michael Jordan hit clutch shots in the playoffs and in the finals ... his most famous shots were in HUGE situations. I'm not sure you can compare those to a regular season game, kobe's definately scary with the ball in his hands at the end of the game ... but reggie miller was a killer at the end of games in his day too. There's a lot of guys, you can't fault phil for saying that about the player he's currently coaching though. Great defense by Ray Allen on that shot and just better offense by Kobe.

llperez22 I wasn't talking some advanced statistical mertric like Hollinger I personally don't like is this stat is simply a player's Fg% in the final two minutes of a game and Kobe's is not otherworldly

I agree with you 100% MarcusFizer21. I wasn't alive to see the old guys from the 70's-80's, but based on what I've seen... I think MJ and Reggie are one and two as far as making clutch shots during huge moments.

Kobe is a great clutch player and is probably a better shot maker than MJ and Reggie on the level of difficulty scale, but I think those guys made bigger shots during bigger moments. MJ not only made clutch shots, but he also made clutch defensive plays. He's the best clutch player I've ever seen.

Not taking anything away from Kobe, but last season during the finals... It was Derek Fisher who hit the big shots, not Kobe. Kobe had a chance to win one of the games while being defending by Turk and he made a terrible play and ended up getting his shot blocked from behind. He had a player wide open and didn't make the pass. Jordan not only made clutch shots... He made clutch passes on a CONSISTENT basis.

Give me MJ with the game on the line. It's arguable that Fisher has hit bigger shots than Kobe during their tenures with the Lakers.

Trevor Ariza was WIDE open... As a matter of fact... He had TWO players wide open. Look at Lamar in the corner. Look at Ariza's and Lamar's reaction after they don't get the ball LOL. Kobe could've even swung it to Derek in the other corner.

dont get it twisted. if you know phil then you know he didnt say that just because kobe sits next to him. he was asked this before and didnt answer kobe and phil always speaks his mind even if it hurts a players feelings. on a side note i no longer feel thee celtics are as big of a challenge as i once thought and its not just because of this game. they arent the same team that beat us 2 years ago. kg isnt the same player.

I tend to think that people forget about players of the past most people live in the now so of course the majority of people are gonna say that kobe is the most clutch and in my own personnel opinion i think its jordan with reggie a close second like someone said jordan hit clutch shots in the playoffs and the finals when it countedthe most

Ray Allen has hit as many or more clutch shots than Kobe but he's not as big a name so he gets no pub. Ppl know bout Kobe's shots cuz the media worships him he's no mre clutch than Allen or Melo or CP3 but gets an ubelievable amount of attention for each shot he hits

Ray Allen has hit as many or more clutch shots than Kobe but he's not as big a name so he gets no pub. Ppl know bout Kobe's shots cuz the media worships him he's no mre clutch than Allen or Melo or CP3 but gets an ubelievable amount of attention for each shot he hits